


Calm before the Storm

by FarmlandTensions



Series: Ereri Week 2015 [6]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Foster home, M/M, Orphans, Reincarnation, Storm - Freeform, foster children, soul mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 00:43:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4646061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FarmlandTensions/pseuds/FarmlandTensions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The very belated final instalment of my ereri week fics. A combination of Day 6 - Storm, and Day 7 - Soul Mates.</p>
<p>Levi sits with his fostered children on the night of a big storm and tells them a story of giant men made of thunder and the heroes who defeat them, but his life takes a turn when one of the children tells him he’s heard the story before from his last foster dad, and the hero of that story is not who Levi expects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Story Time

**Author's Note:**

> This was intended to be a one-shot, but I ran out of steam halfway through it and it ended up sitting in my Google Docs incomplete for months. So I decided to split it up and post the first half while I work on the second, which should be up in the next week or two... hopefully.

Levi was different in this life. He remembered enough from his last one to know and appreciate all the differences. He was taller, only a few inches but more than enough to be a noticeable difference. He put it down to his early life. In his past life, he had lived in a brothel and struggled to survive on what his mother provided for him, and at a young age he had ended up on the streets fending for himself - quite frankly, he had been malnourished, and he had needed to be small and quick and go unnoticed, he had slept little and stayed in small, dark spaces when he did. In this life, his parents had money, he had a home - a big one at that - and a warm bed, he never went hungry, and he grew taller than he had ever been in that life. His features were softer too, less harrowed, less tired.

But there were still children in this life who lived like he had in the past. There were children who had no parents, who had no money, who struggled for food and survival. And as soon as Levi had a stable job and his own home, he had applied to be a foster father. He had more than enough money for himself, and he saw it as his duty to help children who had a similar past to what he had once had.

He was strict as a father. He gave the children enough food to keep them healthy but taught them not to be greedy. He taught them to work for , he drew up rotas for chores and taught them to cook and clean, because he knew they wouldn’t always be with someone who had the money to care for them, and they would need to be able to earn their keep in the future. The kids never minded. Some of them were intimidated when they first arrived, by his schedules and his thin eyebrows and his perpetual furrow, but they all grew to love him. The children who had been in the system for a while appreciated his teachings, and those who were new to foster care grew to understand how much he cared. Frankly, his kids adored him.

He usually fostered four or five children at once - mostly boys. When he fostered girls, he generally requested that he not be matched with any over 10, as he couldn’t guarantee he’d be the best at navigating through female puberty, even if in his past life he had shared his streets with something close to a little sister.

He had four children when the time came for his world to turn upside down. Three boys, one girl. Sarah was four years old. She was sweet, had brown hair that she let Levi tie up in pigtails, and wouldn’t sleep in the bedroom he had designated for the girls because she didn’t want to be alone - he understood. She shared a bed with Levi instead, and insisted on him telling her stories each night. He had started out with storybooks, but when she had heard them all he moved to making stories up. He wasn’t great at it usually, but the worse he was, the more giggles he got out of the girl, and that warmed his heart enough that he wasn’t about to stop.

The boys were Bobby, Stephen, and Thomas. Bobby was twelve, but very small for his age. Stephen and Thomas were seven and nine, and both were taller than him. He pretended not to care, but Levi could always see it in his eyes, he had been the same way once.

On that particular night, there was a storm. And because there was a storm, Levi ended up sharing his bed with four children. When Sarah decided it was story time, the older boys rolled their eyes, but Levi wasn’t about to deny her a story.

A loud crack of thunder made his heart race as he recalled what that sound meant in his last life. The noise still put him on alert, even in this world where he was safe. And so he decided to tell a story that might keep the boys entertained rather than making something up as usual.

And so he started on his tale. He spoke about a world where humans were confined within walls so tall they would never see the outside world. Where people dreamed of what lay beyond, but never dared to leave because of the monsters that lurked out there. He talked about giants breaking down the wall, how they destroyed families and homes, how they destroyed hope. And he told them about a boy who was so special, he could turn into a giant. He talked about how the boy saw himself as a monster because he knew what these giants could do, but how he became everyone’s hope, and used his size to help people. He talked about how brave the boy was, a soldier who desperately wanted to save everyone. And how much good he did.

“Yeah, yeah, and then the handsome captain comes along and saves the day. I’ve heard this story like a thousand times.”

Levi’s heart stopped. He stared at Bobby, at a loss for words. That was definitely not the end to his story, but even if it was, the fact that he had heard it before made no sense to him.

“What?”

“The handsome captain shows up - the one who’s really tiny but is a big hero anyway because sometimes the best people are the smallest. And he saves the day and everyone loves him. My last dad told me like a hundred stories about him.”

“Your last dad… knew that story?”

Levi was having a hard time processing the information he was given. There shouldn’t be anyone else who knew that story. That was the story of his past life, a life long gone and long forgotten, and if someone else knew about it… then he wasn’t alone. He wasn’t the only one with these memories. He was not alone.

“Yeah, they were his favourite stories to tell. I think he only liked telling them to me because I’m small and he wanted me to think I could be a brave hero like the captain. But you don’t have to tell me stories about short people to make me feel better, it’s just annoying.”

Levi frowned. In his story, there was no “handsome captain”, and the mention of him being small just made it seem like he was the hero of the story. And Levi had never considered himself the hero of the story. He had been the person to get things done. The necessary evil. He had tortured people, he had killed to get the needed outcome. He was never a hero. And as far as he knew, no-one saw him as one. There was no reason for anyone to make him the hero of their story. Though, no-one had ever described him as “handsome” either, so maybe it wasn’t him they were referring to, though he could think of no-one else who fit in the situation.

He cleared his throat before speaking again.

“Well, why don’t you tell us a story about the handsome captain, so?”

Bobby rolled his eyes again and sighed, but told a story anyway. The way he told it made Levi think he was mimicking his last foster dad, and it amused him, but he listened intently to the story. The boy told the story of Trost. He spoke about giants running wild through the city, breaking everything, and how this boy who could turn into a giant was being held prisoner because of his abilities. How a plan was hatched to use him to help humanity and then execute him after. He talked about the struggle to block up the hole in the wall to stop more giants getting in, and said that the giant boy was tired from lifting the heavy rock and outnumbered by giants he couldn’t fight back against, and then he spoke of the handsome captain, how he swooped in out of nowhere and saved his life. How he killed the giants and turned the boy into a human, how he stopped the execution and took the boy in like a foster dad and helped him become a better person. And Levi’s heart ached. He could think of only one person who would tell that story in that way.

When the story was finished, he insisted it was bed time, and the five of them drifted off in his large, cosy bed.

The story nagged at him for a few days, but he didn’t want to press Bobby about it. Instead he waited until the children were in school one day to call up Bobby’s social worker and make an inquiry. It was unusual for him to call the social workers, so her first assumption was that there was some problem with Bobby. When he placated her worries, he went on to ask if he could be put in contact with his previous foster father. His heart sped up when she assured him that there had never been a complaint against Mister Jaeger before, but if there was one, he should go through the proper channels instead of contacting the man himself. He swallowed thickly and kept his voice steady as he told her that Bobby had been talking about Mr Jaeger’s stories and he just wanted to know the name of the book he read from so he could read the same ones. It put her at ease, and she told him she would pass his details on to Mr Jaeger.

It was only a day later when he received a call from an unknown number. His hand trembled as he pressed the answer button and held the phone to his ear, but he kept his voice calm and neutral.

“Hello?”

There was a gasp on the other end of the line, and the voice that spoke was shaky but undeniably recognisable.

“It is you.”

Levi swallowed and took a deep breath, closing his eyes to fight against the tears that were threatening to well up at the sound of a voice he had last heard while he was cradling a dying soldier in his arms.

“Eren?”

“Oh my god. She told me someone was asking about my stories and I- I just- I knew it had to be someone from back then, but when she said your name I just couldn’t believe it.”

He could tell from the cracks in Eren’s voice that he wasn’t the only one who was struggling not to cry.

“Are you free to meet?”

There was silence on the phone for a moment and his heart skipped a beat.

“Yeah. Yeah, anytime. Name the place.”

**  
And so mere hours later, Levi ended up sitting in a coffee shop drumming his fingers against the table and checking the time every ten seconds. He was more nervous than he had ever been in this life. He had never anticipated meeting someone else who remembered the world he lived in before, and of all the people he could encounter, it was Eren Jaeger.**


	2. Little Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi meets Eren for the first time in a lifetime.

Levi wasn’t waiting long before Eren appeared through the door of the cafe. He felt his breath leave his lungs at the sight of him, and took the moments he had to take in his appearance as those bright eyes darted around the room searching for him.

Eren was taller than he had been in the last life too. Definitely much taller than he had been when Levi had met him first. His hair was windswept and wild, reminding Levi of how it looked after Eren had been using the 3DMG, and his eyes were big and bright as ever, but without the permanent furrow in his brow. At the moment he looked nervous and excited, but it was easy to tell that overall he was calmer in this world than he had been in the last, no more pent up anger ready to spill at a second’s notice. He was older too, he must have been almost the same age as Levi this time around. And he was beautiful.

Levi’s heart melted at the bright grin that spread across Eren’s face when his eyes finally locked on the man at the table in the corner of the room. He felt a lump in his throat as Eren made his way across the coffee shop to sit in the seat in front of him, and they both just stared at each other in silence for a time.

He furrowed his brow when he noticed the tears forming in Eren’s eyes, and he didn’t have to speak before Eren was responding to his thoughts.

“Sorry, sorry, I know,” he wiped at the corners of his eyes, trying to brush away the tears, “I just can’t believe it’s really you.”

Levi felt his frown ease out as the nodded and took a deep breath.

“It’s good to see you, Eren.”

Eren’s grin was back, though it was shaky. He reached across the table, but then seemed to think twice as his arm froze mid-way and his eyes searched Levi’s in a question he couldn’t quite decipher. When Eren spoke, his words were slow, his tone was cautious.

“I feel like… if I don’t touch you, you might still not be real.”

Levi swallowed, and then nodded again, sliding his own hand out to the middle of the table, where Eren quickly grasped it, biting his lip as more tears seemed to form in his eyes. He blinked them away as he laughed.

“Fuck,” he sighed, “This is unbelievable. Sorry, it’s really hard to just act normal.”

Levi cocked a brow and tried to keep his face neutral - a difficult feat, but he knew he was at least doing a better job at it than Eren.

“You think it’s hard to keep your composure here, try having your foster son tell you that you were the hero of his last dad’s stories.”

Eren laughed again, pink tinging his cheeks as he looked into Levi’s eyes.

“Yeah, well, you always were the hero to me.”

Levi shook his head disbelievingly, “Fucking brat, you were the one who was everyone’s saviour.”

He didn’t miss the amused look in Eren’s eye when he responded.

“I was the one everyone saw as a hero, I was the one they made public. You were the one who did all the work. And you were the one who saved me to begin with.”

Levi looked away at that point, trying to keep his expression calm, though he was sure his nerves showed even though he wasn’t looking Eren in the eye anymore.

“I never…” He hesitated and clenched his jaw tight as he steeled himself and prepared to continue with his line of thought, “I never expected to meet anyone from back then. Not in this life.”

Eren was silent for a moment, and Levi still couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eye. He wasn’t his strong, passive captain this time around. He was weaker, and more emotional, and beyond nervous to be sitting here talking to a ghost from his former life. A ghost whose hand was still clenched around his own.

“I always hoped to find someone, but I never let myself hope it would be you.”

Levi’s eyes snapped back at that, taking in the earnest look in Eren’s eyes as he squeezed his hand.

“Is that why you foster children?”

Eren looked surprised at that question, and then sheepishly glanced away, his hand slipping out of Levi’s and into his lap as he formulated an answer.

“No,” He paused for a moment and sighed before looking back up at Levi, “I was in the system myself for a while. And it was bad at first but ended up really helping me, so once I was on my own feet, I felt like I owed it to… I don’t know, someone, to help kids who were like me.”

Levi felt something twisting in his gut. His old life had been pretty bad, and he knew that he was blessed this time around, but it hadn’t struck him that Eren might not have been the same. Eren who had killed men at an age almost as young as Levi had, Eren who watched his mother being eaten by a monster and was forced to remember killing his own father, Eren who the world was against even when he was doing everything in his power to help them. And in this life he’d been left alone, without a family or a steady home. Levi knew people still lived like that, and it was why he was so intent on fostering children once he could. But he had never thought that one of those people was Eren Jaeger.

He only realised he was staring, a sad expression on his face, when Eren ducked his head and looked away again. He cleared his throat and willed away the stinging in his eyes.

“I guess that’s kind of why I do it too.”

Eren looked up at him hopefully.

“You were in the system?”

Levi shook his head and pointed his gaze at the table in front of him.

“No. This life has been different for me. The last one…” He paused and took a deep breath, “In the last one, I lived on the streets as a child, I never really had anyone to look after me, and I hate seeing other children with no family to care for them.”

When he brought his eyes back up to meet Eren’s, there was a look of understanding in the eyes that faced his.

“There were always rumours, about your life before the survey corps, but I never knew for sure.” He paused, thinking for a moment, “Is that why you were so protective of us back then?”

Levi nodded, eyes darting away again as he thought about it. He had seen the horrors Eren’s squad went through back then, and he had taken charge of them as a mentor, but he never saw himself as a foster father, not to Eren. The question unsettled him a little. He had been sure before that Eren felt more than hero worship towards him at the time, that if they had met under better circumstances then something might have evolved from it, but now Eren had him doubting that, thinking that maybe he saw him as a parental figure all along.

“Y’know, you’re much easier to read this time.”

He looked up to see an easy grin on Eren’s face. And suddenly Eren’s hand was on his again, though it was much more gentle and reassuring than the first time he had taken it.

“There’s a reason you were the one person I didn’t really expect to meet. Do you know why that is?” Levi shook his head and Eren continued, “Because you’re the person I most wanted to see again. Not Armin, not Mikasa, not my mom - you.”

Levi was sure the confusion was clear as daylight on his face when he responded with a quiet “Why?”

Eren shrugged, not letting go of his hand.

“Because you were the only person I felt like I left things unresolved with.”

When the confusion didn’t leave Levi’s face, his frown deepening instead, Eren continued.

“You know how I felt about you, right?”

Levi shrugged this time, and felt the nerves in the pit of his stomach spread throughout his body. His hand would have been shaking if not for Eren’s thumb gently swiping back and foth on it.

“I suspected there was something, but you were so young and… well you made me the hero of the stories too and, um…” He trailed off and felt a light blush dusting his cheeks as he cleared his throat, “I guess the ‘handsome captain’ part should have been a giveaway.”

He saw Eren’s cheeks redden despite the hearty laugh he gave as he squeezed Levi’s hand once more.

“I can’t believe he left that bit in! I’m surprised he told you about the stories at all, I think he always kind of hated them.”

Levi felt his blush deepen and decided to be honest.

“Yeah, well, I was kind of telling him the same story, only the hero in my version was the bright-eyed boy full of courage and passion, not the shitty old captain.”

Eren’s grin faded a little and became something a bit more fond.

“I always thought maybe you liked me back. But there was never time to find out if anything could have happened between us.”

Levi took a deep breath and looked straight into Eren’s eyes, making his mind up there and then.

  
“There’s time to find out now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I am ending it there. I hope that's alright for people. It was meant to be a one-shot initially that I ended up splitting into two parts, but I do not intend to write more of their story.


End file.
